DairyKing

I served 3 years in the Army 82nd Airborne Div, and 22 years in the U.S. Navy. I always had an inclination to overindulge when it came to eating, but I was a specialist at dropping the weight twice a year to achieve outstandings on the physical fitness tests. Now,I have a rather sedentary job that challenges my fitness level. I go for the lifestyle change instead of a "diet". Anything with the word "die" in it can't be good for you. I prefer moderation to depriving myself of any major food group. Had a little setback when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. Surgery went well, but she had to do 16 treatments of chemo over a 20 week period, followed by 5 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week, followed by some blue pill she has to take periodically the rest of her life - which hopefully, will be at least 2 or 3 more decades. Got up to running over 10 miles at a time last year, but wife's treatments put a damper on the long runs, then took a toll on fitness training in general. Now she is done with all her treatments, and pronounced cancer-free. Got up to running 10 miles, and got weight down to about 215 lbs. in 2013, and had a few medical issues come up, and weight climbed back to 250 lbs.I said, "This is enough, this is the year!" Ran a 5K race on 8/12/2014 and ran a 10K August 23rd - I guess that's not bad for a guy considered to still be 50 lbs. overweight. I run on a treadmill when the weather gets below zero, but most of the time I prefer to run outside on the roads.
I'm seriously considering running the Allerton Trails Half-Marathon in Monticello, IL sometime early April of 2015. Who'da thunk it!
No sense in putting up a bunch of goals that are dependent on the previous ones, so when one falls, they all fall like dominoes. Not for me, thanks.
My short-term goal is the same every week: lose 1.5 lbs. per week. If I don't make it this week, goal is the same next week. :)

Eggs anyone?
I was reading an interesting article concerning eggs and cholesterol. I am pasting the relevant parts of the article. It said, "The truth is that cholesterol is a very important part of the body. It is a structural molecule that is an essential part of every single cell membrane. It is also used to make steroid hormones like testosterone, estrogen and cortisol. Without cholesterol, we wouldn’t even exist. Given how incredibly important cholesterol is, the body has evolved elaborate ways to ensure that we always have enough of it available. Because getting cholesterol from the diet isn’t always an option, the liver actually produces cholesterol. But when we eat a lot of cholesterol rich foods, the liver starts producing less. So the total amount of cholesterol in the body changes only very little (if at all), it is just coming from the diet instead of from the liver. It appears that the response to whole egg consumption depends on the individual. In 70% of people, it has no effect on Total or LDL cholesterol. However, in 30% of people (termed “hyper responders”), these numbers do go up slightly.That being said, I don’t think this is a problem. The studies show that eggs change the LDL particles from small, dense LDL to Large LDL. People who have predominantly large LDL particles have a lower risk of heart disease. So even if eggs cause mild increases in Total and LDL cholesterol levels, this is not a cause for concern. The science is clear that up to 3 whole eggs per day are perfectly safe for healthy people who are trying to stay healthy. Bottom Line: Eggs consistently raise HDL (the “good”) cholesterol. For 70% of people, there is no increase in Total or LDL cholesterol. There may be a mild increase in a benign subtype of LDL in some people. Many studies have looked at egg consumption and the risk of heart disease. All of these studies are so-called observational studies. In studies like these, large groups of people are followed for many years. Then the researchers use statistical methods to figure out whether certain habits (like diet, smoking or exercise) are linked to either a decreased or increased risk of some disease. These studies, some of which include hundreds of thousands of people, consistently show that people who eat whole eggs are no more likely to develop heart disease. Some of the studies even show a reduced risk of stroke. However… one thing that is worth noting, is that these studies show that diabetics who eat eggs are at an increased risk of heart disease. Whether the eggs are causing the increased risk in diabetics is not known. These types of studies can only show a correlation and it is possible that the diabetics who eat eggs are, on average, less health conscious than those who don’t.This may also depend on the rest of the diet. On a low-carb diet (by far the best diet for diabetics), eggs lead to improvements in heart disease risk factors. Bottom Line: Many observational studies show that people who eat eggs don’t have an increased risk of heart disease, but some of the studies do show an increased risk in diabetics. Eggs Have Plenty of Other Health Benefits Too." I don't know that I would eat 6 or 7 eggs a day, but I certainly wouldn't worry about 2 or 3.

posted 06 Aug 2014, 12:44

The Whole Calorie Counting Thing
Don't 'worry' about anything. It's proven that worrying causes high cholesterol. Do everything in moderation. Obviously, if your RDI is 2000 calories a day, you are not going to have a healthy weight loss if you consume those 2000 calories in candy bars which are primarily sugars. Whether you are following Adkins, South Beach Diet, or your own eating plan, eat a balance of nutritious foods and stay close to your RDI for weight loss. And stay active, if you're not building muscle which burns more fat even when you're sleeping, you will have a very frustrating journey. It's all about the balance of good nutrition, exercise and taking in less calories than you expend. There are a lot of good articles on this site for helping maintain that balance. Hope this helps.

posted 08 Feb 2014, 11:44

Humor
I noticed sometimes pics don't show up if you make comments after them. Sometimes just making the pics the last entry makes them show up, even if you don't change anything else. I consider that a bug, but it's been that way for me off and on for two years.